Ecology and Vulnerability

Mottled Duskywing

Insects, including Lepidoptera, play an integral role in ecosystems as pollinators and food sources; studying their interactions and the indirect effects of climate change on them is critical (Harvey et al., 2022). Lepidoptera are extremely sensitive to environmental changes and are threatened by herbicides, insecticides, habitat loss, pollution, and direct and indirect effects of climate change (Wagner, 2021). As ectotherms, climate change can be a major physiological stressor that can cause changes to misalignment with Lepidoptera host plant and emergence, shifts in range, behavior, development, and more (Hellmann et al., 2016; Patterson et al., 2019). Species with longer developmental overwintering stages, narrower diets, or restricted ranges may be more at risk of decline or extinction due to changing temperatures and precipitation than generalist species (Patterson et al., 2019). Temperature increases have led to many species emerging earlier than host plants, with spring species advancing faster than summer species. Phenological mismatch can reduce survival due to emerging before their host plant or after the host plant senesces (Patterson et al., 2019). The early emergence of adult butterflies could mean limited availability of nectar resources, late snowstorms, and freezing temperatures (Patterson et al., 2019). Asynchrony in some Lepidoptera larvae has shown increased rates of parasitism and predation (including cannibalism) due to mismatched timing of host plant emergence and the butterfly’s life cycle (Despland, 2018). Research on the effects of climate change on Lepidoptera species is still largely understudied, and little is known about the response of many of the RCGN species listed above. More research is needed at both the fine-scale and large scale, temporally and spatially.